What is King Sorrow about?

Arthur Oakes, a student at Rackham College in Maine, is forced into crime by local drug dealers. With his friends, he summons the dragon King Sorrow to deal with them, and the dragon's price is a yearly sacrifice that puts one of the six friends at risk.

Is King Sorrow a standalone novel?

Yes. The book is a self-contained novel by Joe Hill, published in 2025 by Headline, and it follows its characters over four decades.

King Sorrow

A dragon's bargain and four decades of friendship, guilt and dread.

Reading guide

King Sorrow works as a standalone novel, so there is no earlier book to read first. Start at the opening, where Arthur's trouble at Rackham College sets up the bargain.

Arthur and his friends summon King Sorrow to deal with the men threatening him, and they accept a deal that demands a new sacrifice every year. The novel follows the group over four decades as the promise shapes their friendships and endangers their lives.

Description

Arthur Oakes is a bookish student at Rackham College in Maine, a town of hard winters and handsome buildings. When local drug dealers force him to steal rare volumes from the college library, he turns to his closest friends: wealthy Colin Wren, fearless Allison Shiner, the squabbling McBride twins and Gwen Underfoot, the clever girl he is falling for. Their desperate plan is to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow and set him on Arthur's tormentors.

The dragon answers, and the price is steep. Each year the six must choose a new sacrifice for him, or one of them will become his next victim. Joe Hill follows this bargain across forty years of friendship, guilt and gathering dread. It is a large, absorbing horror epic for readers who like their dark fantasy rooted in people worth caring about.

Books in this Series

King Sorrow

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